Vista 64 - Crossfire being weird

[edmjk]

Hi everyone, I recently built a new PC and installed Vista Home Premium 64 on it. The first time things got a little weird in Catalyst, where it would say "CrossfireX enabled" but in my hardware tab it says that my second GPU was a "Disabled Adapter".

After reinstalling Vista and following the procedure here the "Graphics Hardware" tab showed my second 4850 as being a "Linked Adapter". Although Crossfire seems to be working, I still get no performance increase in any games (Crysis, COD4, etc.).

Enabling r_multigpu 1 in Crysis brings down the FPS by about 2-3, and there is no performance difference in COD4. Now I'm pretty sure there is nothing wrong hardware-wise, so I'd appreciate any help in fixing this problem. Thanks.

Also, I can't do anything with ATi Overdrive (as shown in the picture). Is this normal?

 

[wtf8269]

How did you install everything? The way it should be done is start off with one GPU in the system. Load the drivers, make sure they work (IE: run a benchmark), turn off the computer, install the other card, let the drivers load, turn the computer off, install the CF bridges (you do have to run two bridges with single GPU cards IIRC, my 3870x2's only require one), then boot in and enable CF.

 

[erocker]

wtf is right, though in Vista it may enable xfire for you. To unlock overdrive just click the key.

 

[edmjk]

Thanks and thanks.

On my current setup, I did install Crossfire using the way wtf mentioned; which is why I'm puzzled why I'm not getting the benefits of my second GPU.

Ran some Vantage benchmarks a few days ago on the Performance setting, it did register an increase in the score, about 3000 points (is that low?), I think...

But while playing Crysis, if I look at the same thing and change r_multigpu 1 to r_multigpu 0, my FPS immediately goes up by 2 or 3. In COD4, changing the "Dual Video Cards" setting does absolutely nothing to my FPS.

By the way, when the 8.8 Catalysts come out, do I have to take out my second card & Crossfire bridge again, or what?

 

[J-Man]

No, just uninstall your current ones, reboot, install the new drivers.

 

[FR@NK]

In COD4, changing the "Dual Video Cards" setting does absolutely nothing to my FPS.

You can normally see more of a difference if you enable 2x or 4x AA.